Sugar. It’s an ingredient we read and hear a lot about. We know that many of our customers want to enjoy our products while at the same time consuming sugar in moderation. 

That's why we are always working on offering that choice - starting with the introduction of Diet Coke back in 1983 right through to removing more than a quarter of the sugar from some of our Deep Spring range this year, and improving the availability of our mini packs so customers can drink our products in a size that's right for them.

In New Zealand, Coca-Cola has been working hard to help the nation enjoy less sugar. Here's how:

1. There's a reduced or no-sugar, no-kilojoule option for almost every beverage

Want your favourite beverage, but don’t want the sugar? No problem.

Coca-Cola Oceania offers low kilojoule or no added sugar alternatives for over half of more than 120 products across 21 brands. 

One of The Coca-Cola Company’s first no-sugar, low-kilojoule colas, Diet Coke was introduced to New Zealanders in 1983. Coke Zero followed 10 years ago and in April 2015, we launched lower sugar and kilojoule Coca-Cola Life. More than 44% of the cola we sell is now Coca-Cola Zero, Diet Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Life.

By the end of 2015, all The Coca-Cola Company’s top selling brands in Australia New Zealand had a low-kilojoule alternative, including Coca-Cola (Diet Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero), Sprite (Zero), Fanta (Zero), and Powerade (Zero). One in four of the non-alcoholic beverages we produce with our bottling partner CCANZ is low and no kilojoule, and one in three of our products purchased is low and no kilojoule.

2. We've been exploring different types of sweeteners

Cutting back on sugar doesn’t mean compromising on taste.

We have perfected ways of creating great-tasting drinks with less or no sugar, and the ways they do that are evolving over time. Stevia plant extract is one key ingredient we're using to reduce or replace the sugar in some drinks.

3. We're providing more portion sizes than ever before

When it came to picking up a pack of your favourite beverage, we knew consumers wanted more choice. So we decided to make sure there was a pack size to suit a whole range of occasions.

The latest addition was a 250ml PET bottle, which hit shelves back in 2016. But we also provide refreshment in the form of a 250ml mini can, a standard 335ml can or a 1.25-litre bottle, designed for sharing with friends and family.

At the end of 2016, our 300ml PET pack was available in 52% of retailers outside of supermarkets (up from 38% in 2015) and the 250ml x 6 mini can multipack was available in over 95% of supermarkets.

Our smaller packs continue to grow in popularity in New Zealand and now represent 67% of all single serve packs purchased.

5. We're using clearer labels 

We all want a quick and easy way to see what’s in our food and beverages.

Now, when you pick up a can or bottle you'll find that we list all the ingredients and nutritional information on the back – and on our website too – to help consumers make an informed choice.

We voluntarily introduced the % Daily Intake Guide label on all our products in 2007 which provides clear information on both the amount of kilojoules per serve and what this represents as a percentage of an adults total daily energy intake.

In 2014 we committed to adopting the Government’s voluntary Health Star Rating System (HSR) to assist consumers in making informed choices.  The beverage category is part of the integrated HSR approach and as such needs to have a minimum display requirement of energy (kilojoules) only.

More recently we introduced nutrition information panels on our vending machines, reaching 75% by the end of 2015.

Launched in 2015, our online product comparison tool allows people to compare nutritional information and product ingredients across all of our beverages.

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